Arizona Laws 42-6202. Commercial government property lease excise tax; database
A. A government lessor shall levy and the county treasurer shall collect an annual excise tax on each prime lessee for the use or occupancy of each government lessor’s government property improvement.
Terms Used In Arizona Laws 42-6202
- Department: means the department of revenue. See Arizona Laws 42-1001
- Government lessor: means a city, town, county or county stadium district. See Arizona Laws 42-6201
- Government property improvement: means a building for which a certificate of occupancy has been issued, for which the title of record is held by a government lessor, that is situated on land for which the title of record is held by a government lessor or a political subdivision of this state and that is available for use for any commercial, residential rental or industrial purpose, including, but not limited to, office, retail, restaurant, service business, hotel, entertainment, recreational or parking uses. See Arizona Laws 42-6201
- including: means not limited to and is not a term of exclusion. See Arizona Laws 1-215
- Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). Source: OCC
- Prime lessee: means any person, partnership, corporation, company, limited liability company, joint venture or other organization or association that enters into a lease directly with a government lessor to develop or occupy for at least thirty consecutive days a government property improvement, regardless of whether the improvement is actually used by the prime lessee or by one or more sublessees. See Arizona Laws 42-6201
- Property: includes both real and personal property. See Arizona Laws 1-215
B. A government lessor may not own or operate a government property improvement unless one of the following applies:
1. The improvement is subject to the government property lease excise tax under this article with respect to the improvement.
2. The improvement is exempt from tax under section 42-6208.
3. Tax on the improvement has been abated under section 42-6209.
C. Within thirty days after entering into a lease for the occupancy of a government property improvement, the government lessor shall:
1. Record a memorandum of lease in the office of the county recorder in the county in which the government property improvement is located. The memorandum of lease must include the basic lease terms, including the names of the parties, the leased property, the lease term, including the beginning and ending dates, and any options to renew the lease or to purchase any of the government property improvement or government owned land.
2. Submit to the county treasurer copies of the lease or an abstract of the lease.
D. The government lessor shall maintain a public database by county, city and town as applicable, or post its lease agreements on a county, city or town website where the government property improvement is located, of all government property leases that are subject to the tax under this article.
E. The government lessor shall submit a current link to the public database as described in subsection D of this section to the department of revenue and notify the department when the database no longer contains any active leases.
F. The department of revenue shall place links to all of the government lessors’ databases with active leases on their website.
G. If a county assessor becomes aware of a government property improvement that is or should be subject to the tax under this article, the assessor shall notify the county treasurer and the government lessor for confirmation that the improvement is included in their database.